The orchestra of mankind

The small music paper boat of "ciaO'scià" has moored for the first time ever in Malta, one of the most beautiful and historically important harbours of the entire Mediterranean area. Its precious message is held in the casket of two words stolen from the dialect of a tiny but charming island: Lampedusa. Two words that mean, literally, "my breath" and that, for the last five years, have become the symbol of a great project of awareness and solidarity. Awareness towards a difficult and complicated phenomenon: Immigration, in particular illegal immigration; solidarity both towards those who risk their lives in search of a better life or even in search of a chance to live, as well as towards all those people that are forced to live with problems concerning a difficult welcome and an even more difficult cohabitation.

This is a project that has involved over 100 Italian and international artistes that get together to remind us all that life is the art of meeting and that integration between different cultures is not only possible but is also an extraordinary resource for us all.

Why Malta? Why this concert?

Malta was chosen because, like Lampedusa, it experiences directly what it means to be an immigration border: The comparison with other histories, cultures, reasons and beliefs.

This concert because music has the power to be understood by all languages and to be listened to and loved by all the generations and is, therefore, the ideal language to reflect on an issue that concerns all the key matters of existence.

This, obviously, doesn't mean that music is the solution to everything. Music is not the solution. But it surely can give an important contribution. It can awaken the public opinion and help it understand more deeply the terms of the problem. It can urge the media to deal with the problem in a proper manner by speaking of human rights, solidarity and integration. It can put pressure on the institutions and on the European political parties in order to make them create the conditions needed for a balanced and supporting development.

Integration is a value that is greater than the price that we are all being forced to pay. Because it adds history to history, culture to culture, sensitivity to sensitivity. In one word: It adds resources to resources.

Therefore, instead of closed doors, our homes need open windows in order to welcome the essence of the others. And this precisely is the spirit of the project - "ciaO'scià" - that invites us to reflect upon the need to overcome the emergency in order to begin a difficult but necessary road towards integration: Emergency is a disease for everybody. For those who already live here and for those who arrive. The cure for such disease is not to close ourselves in but rather to open our hearts to recognise the fact that even those who arrive have their own reasons. These reasons must have equal dignity and it is necessary to learn how to live in harmony so that not only may they live together peacefully but also become mutually useful.

Unease, economic difficulties, fear and ignorance can at times bring out the best of men. But much more often they bring out the worst. We like to think that music can help us to make that minority become a majority. And, as in an orchestra, each musician offers the value of his technique, sensitivity and expressiveness, so in life each man must offer to others the value of his history, culture and identity. This is precisely what integration means: Create the orchestra of mankind. It is not only a necessity, but it is also a compulsory step if we really intend to create a future consisting of growth, development and peace for everybody.

A great poet once wrote: "He who does not speak to whom he does not know slowly dies". Let us not let ourselves die like this.